The LSU AgCenter was proud to host more than 300 Lincoln Parish 4-H members, leaders, parents, and volunteers as they learned “Be Good Gators — Take Care of Our Environment” at the 2016 Lincoln Parish 4-H Achievement Day recently held at the North Louisiana Exhibition Center.

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With recent news that Louisiana Tech University cracked the U.S. News and World Report’s list of the 200 best colleges in the nation, things for the university are looking up.

Tech, ranked No. 194, was part of the National University category, which includes universities that offer a full range of undergraduate majors, master’s and doctoral degrees, and because of this ranking, the Ruston-based school now joins Tulane University and Louisiana State University as one of three schools in the state to be ranked.

I remember how I learned to swim. Yes, I took swimming lessons and yes, Daddy worked with me and my younger brother. Mom, never having learned to swim, was deathly afraid of water and could not look, most of the time, when we would jump in the motel pool during our vacation.

During my time at the Ruston Daily Leader, I have written a lot about helping out various nonprofit organizations.

Throughout the year, various organizations host events to raise funds and awareness for a number of different causes. I’ve personally written about the Domestic Abuse Resistance Team, Junior Auxiliary, the Ruston Jaycees, the Emerson Centre, the Boys and Girls Club, Christian Community Action and a number of other local agencies.

So, when the leadership at the Ruston Daily Leader decided to actively help out one of these organizations, I was pretty excited.

Growing up, I always had a gut feeling that I was somehow not related to my family. This feeling went on throughout my childhood, and even though I knew for a fact I wasn’t adopted, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I was.

It wasn’t because my older sister and I would get in fights and she would tell me I was adopted to upset me. It was simply from the fact I didn’t feel like I looked like anyone in my family. While I know that to be untrue now, I couldn’t get over the fact that everyone asked if my two sisters were twins while no one even acknowledged I was there.

The years would pass, the hairline would recede and the genes in my body would start to take over, disproving my adoption theory and solidifying the fact I was indeed my parents’ child.
But even if I found out I was adopted, I can honestly say my love for my family would be the same. The handful of friends I had growing up who knew they were adopted felt the same way, and I believe one of those friends said it the best when I asked him about it.

“Why would I love them any different just because they don’t share genetics with me,” he said to me confidently. “They raised me, cared for me, loved me and were there for me. That doesn’t sound like anything to complain about now does it?”

That message has been in my mind for many years. I have always had a soft spot for adoption. I have never really wanted to have children of my own, when I could simply raise one of the millions on the planet whose parents don’t want anything to do with them.
Children everywhere need homes and families, and with November set as National Adoption Awareness Month, the next 20 plus days are going to be crucial in helping spread the word to help fight for orphans all over America and the globe.